


Thirdhand

by castielsass



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: M/M, established mavin, ray got a crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-10
Updated: 2014-12-10
Packaged: 2018-02-28 22:36:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2749652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/castielsass/pseuds/castielsass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ray's got a big nerdlinger crush and he's as embarrassed talking about it as Michael and Gavin are hearing about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thirdhand

Gavin was alternating between editing, and staring at his thighs in confusion. Michael caught the little frown line between his eyebrows and jerked his chin upward in question. Gavin shrugged in response.   
“Legs are weird. Look at my thighs,” Gavin said, holding a leg out. “How does such a skinny little thing hold big muscles and bones and shit?”  
“Firstly, I damn well hope it’s not holding shit,” Michael started, Gavin’s leg starting to tremble a little with the effort of lifting it. Michael shoved his knee back down, when Ray landed like a bird behind them, with one hand on the backs of each of their chairs.   
“I need to talk to you,” Ray said. His face was flushed across the bridge of his nose, and the tops of his dark cheekbones. “Like, soon.”  
“Ok…” Michael said, as Gavin tilted his head at Ray. Ray’s hand slipped and his chin almost collided with the Creeper scarf threaded through the back of Gavin’s chair before he righted himself. Michael continued, undisturbed.  
“Come over tonight then.”  
“Is it bad?” Gavin inquired.  
“Yeah. No. I dunno,” Ray said, frustratedly. “I gotta go,” he said, and moved back to his own chair, plugging himself into his headphones like he wasn’t two feet away. Gavin shrugged at Michael’s worried glance. 

At lunch, Gavin tore his pizza slice into small bits, alternating between tossing peppers into his own mouth, and aiming at Michael’s face. Michael kicked his under the table from across the booth, and tossed his eyes pointedly at the openly disapproving waitress.   
“If I give you some candy, will you behave?” Michael demanded. He pulled a pack of Jolly Ranchers out of his pocket, waved it tantalisingly in Gavin’s face. A pepperoni slid down his nose.  
“Am I five?” Gavin said.  
“Fuckin’ apparently,” Michael sniped.   
“I’m worried about Ray, a little,” Gavin said, the non sequitur almost threw Michael, but he knew Gavin better than that. He was just testing out, to see if Michael was scared, to know how he should be feeling. Michael shrugged, tossing the bag of candy on the table as a peace offering.  
“Not enough to invite him to lunch with us-” Michael started and Gavin interrupted.  
“This is my time with my boy!”  
Michael rolled his eyes and continued.   
“Nah, don’t be worried. Ray’s a big drama queen, he’s fine.”  
“What if he’s not?” Gavin pressed, and Michael sighed harshly.   
“Don’t worry about it,” he said more firmly, and that seemed to settle Gavin a little. Enough to start throwing food again, at least. 

Gavin slid into Michael’s car and reached for the seat belt, the door almost shut when a hand grabbed it and wrenched it open hard enough to make him almost fall out in shock. Ray looked down at him, his Vans pressing uncomfortably into his ribs.  
“No worries, I’ll help myself up,” Gavin said, throwing himself back into the seat.  
“Sorry,” Ray said. For a moment, Gavin thought he was reaching out to pat him on the shoulder, but instead his hand landed on the seat, pushing it forward, neatly folding Gavin in half. “I’m coming with you, remember?”  
Although it hadn’t exactly been discussed, Gavin couldn’t say anything with the way his knees were jammed into his own ears. Michael looked at him, then back at Ray as Ray strapped himself into the back seat and pulled Gavin’s seat back upright.   
“Right,” Michael said. “Totally.” He reached out and clicked Gavin’s chair into place properly as Ray folded himself up neatly to fit in the back of the tiny two-door car. 

They drove to Michael’s place, which had slowly turned into Michael-and-Gavin’s apartment, not through any expressed invitation, but rather due to Gavin’s habit of leaving his goddamn stuff all over the place. Three months ago, Gavin had been sitting on the couch playing Peggle when Michael tripped over his stack of books, and demanded to know why he wasn’t keeping that shit somewhere else.  
“Like where else?” Gavin wondered.  
“Like Geoff’s house?”   
Gavin had stared at him long enough to make him a little huffy, before saying “Why would I leave stuff at Geoff’s house?”  
“Uhhhh, ‘cause you live there?” Michael said.  
Gavin had blinked, slow and squinty. “I live here.”  
Michael wriggled his bare toes in the thick rug that Gavin had bought some weeks ago. He had debated with himself silently, before he exhaled deeply.   
“Oh.”

Ray was the first through the door, which was surprising only because Gavin had unlocked it. He crawled up the small couch, and lay on his stomach, his knees bent and his feet over his ass. Michael and Gavin shared a silent look, before they locked the door. Michael took the armchair perpendicular to the couch, and Gavin sat on the floor. There was silence for a minute before Gavin picked up his phone and said;  
“Well, I’m gonna order pizza.”  
It took four slices of meatfeast and a half a soda before Ray lay back down on his stomach and mumbled into the cushions.  
“I have a... crush.”  
“Ohhhh,” said Gavin relievedly. “I thought you were dying.” Michael was less relieved.   
“On who?” He asked. “What’s the problem?”  
It took another slice of pizza and Gavin’s lava cake before Ray answered.   
“Somebody from work.”  
“Go on,” Gavin said, his hands empty with no more food to offer Ray. Michael shook a pack at him when he didn’t answer.  
“Cigarette?”  
Ray took it and sucked on the filter grossly, curling up on his side in the fetal position. Michael wished goodbye to his safety deposit and lit it with his Zippo.   
“Will it help if I just say names?” Gavin said. He’d started to lose his patience about three slices of pizza ago, and scrolled through twitter on his phone.   
“No,” Ray mumbled.  
“Barbara? Lindsay? Ashley?” Michael said, his leg hooked over the arm of the chair.  
“No,” Ray said sadly. “How did you know you were gay?”  
“Woah,” said Gavin, at the same time as Michael said “Oh.”  
“Uh, I’m not, really. I dunno what I am, don’t really give a fuck,” Michael said. “Are you asking how I knew I liked a specific guy?”  
“I guess,” Ray said.  
Gavin stood up to get more soda, and some beer.  
“Dude, if you’re asking, it probably means you don’t have to ask.”  
Try as he could, Michael couldn’t much come up with anything better than that. He rambled for a while about attraction and not giving a fuck and romancing your best friend before Ray interrupted him in the quietest way possible.  
“I like Joel.”   
“Ohhhhh,” Michael said, long and drawn out. Pizza sauce dried over his mouth when he said it and he scrubbed it off half-heartedly. Gavin re-entered the room and handed him a beer, apparently having caught the end of the conversation.   
“Joel Heyman?” Gavin pressed.  
“Yeah!” Ray said, with the same reaction, as if this was news to him also.   
“He’s like fifty!”  
“I know!”  
“You’ve always said you were straight before!”  
“I thought I was! Oh, God,” Ray said dazedly, turning over onto his back. “Why is this happening to me?”  
Michael snorted, which made Gavin and Ray turn to him with similar expressions of huffiness.  
“Oh my God, get the fuck over it. It’s a crush. So you ask him out, what’s worst that could happen?”  
“He could hear me,” Ray insisted. “Have you met me?”  
Gavin sighed, and Michael threw his hands up in defeat. Ray slept on the couch that night, pouting for at least an hour after Michael and Gavin went to bed. 

In work the next day, Gavin sidled up to Joel in his office when Adam was away, wheedling his way into pretending to work beside him innocently.

Ray’s headphones popped out of his hands, and he grabbed them from the air quickly. Joel was still standing there, big and tall in a loose hoodie.   
“Uhhhh, yeah we can talk,” Ray said, hoisting himself up out of his chair. He shot daggers at Michael and an absent Gavin’s chair as Joel led him out into the main room.  
“So…”Joel said, twiddling his hands inside his pockets, making his hoodie move in little waves. “I hear you like me.”  
“Are we thirteen?” Ray opted to say, instead of actually answering.   
“We’re not really the most… mature group, I guess.” Joel said. There was a pause for a moment, and Ray let it play out, sensing Joel wanted to continue.  
“Thing is,” Joel said, his hoodie puffing out around his hands as he gestured within his pockets. “I’d like to take you out. On a date. Well, not out. But maybe get take-out and watch a movie at my place.”  
“Did Gavin put you up to this?” Ray demanded. Joel shook his head quickly, before pausing and considering it.   
“Well, he let it slip a little that maybe you liked someone in the office and I guess...I dunno. I wanted to make sure it was me and not someone else. I don’t… do jealousy well,” he admitted.  
“You’re...You’d...jealous?” Ray said before his brain caught up with his words. “You like me,” he said quietly.  
“I-well, yeah, I thought- is that ok?”   
“Oh my God, yeah. Uh. Pick me up at 6?”   
Joel nodded and smiled, his face directed at their sneakers. “I’ll see you then.”


End file.
